Finally got home at 10:30pm and it was snowing lightly so I headed to the gym for my run. Continuous interval workout on the treadmill. 2 mile warm up, 5X1mile @ 12mph with .5 miles @ 8mph, 2 mile cool down.
I had two experiences last week that have been on my mind. As I walked back to my car after the Carlsbad 5k an older lady was walking beside me and began asking me questions about the race. She said that she was running the women's master race in an hour for the 5th time. Then she pointed at the race medal on my neck and gasped, Oh you got a medal! I kind of shrugged, you know, you get one of these in every race. She explained that the race only gave out medals to the first 200 finishers and she had been trying to get one for five years. I pulled it off my head and handed it to her. How many of these do us runners have anyways? She gave me a huge hug and started to cry. I was so impressed by the spirit it takes to work so hard for something.
Then last week on an all day hike with a small group in Arizona after stopping several times with the laggging hiker of the group, after we had talked all day about business plans good and bad, how well his personal one had done, he said that he would give anything he had to get into shape enough to hike or run like I could. We both laughed because it sounded so funny, but he said he was serious. It's easy to make money, earn degrees, or be successful, but it's so hard to learn to do what you love.
I wonder how many of us runners forget how neat it is to have grabbed this out of life. | 